big-league debut with Oakland A's

The Andrean graduate will make his debut for Oakland when he pitches against Houston.

Andrean coach Dave Pishkur caught up with his former player on Wednesday.

"It was almost like we were yelling at each other — I don't know who was more excited and who was more pumped," Pishkur said with a laugh.

Manaea is Oakland's top pitching prospect. The left-hander earned the promotion after going 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA for the Oakland's Class AAA team in Nashville. He had 21 strikeouts in 18 innings.

"He's such a nice, genuine kid that I bet you not too many people gave a chance for this to happen when he was in high school," Pishkur said. "But he worked at it and I am so happy for him."

His road to the big leagues included playing at South Central and Andrean. He had a 5-0 record for the 59ers' 2010 state championship team. He will be the first Andrean graduate to play in the majors.

"I am so excited and so pumped for it," said Pishkur, who recently won his 900th game. "Everybody made a big deal about the 900 wins. This is so much more important to me, seeing him.

"It's been 36 years I've coached. This is the first one that's actually going to make it to the big leagues. That's extremely exciting."

Manaea also played summer baseball for Dave Sutkowski's Hammond Chiefs from 2008-10.

"Sean was a big part of our program," Sutkowski said. "It couldn't happen to a better person or a better family."

Manaea is the second player Sutkowski coached to make the majors. Cesar Carrillo pitched for San Diego in 2009.

Manaea played on the Chiefs' 2009 team that reached the Babe Ruth World Series championship game.

"He was a kid who really made great strides over the summers that we had him," Sutkowski said. "Sean had a lot of talent and at that point in time probably didn't realize how much talent he had potentially.

"When he went to Indiana State and then was drafted, at that time he probably finally matured enough to realize what he possibly had going for him. His work ethic is tremendous."

Manaea set Indiana State's single-season ERA record with a 1.47 in 2013. The Royals selected him No. 34 overall in the 2013 draft. He joined the A's system in a trade last summer.

Sutkowski is flying to Oakland to watch Friday's game. Pishkur plans on joining his staff to watch at his son's place.

"It's a different feeling, you see those guys play and I've watched baseball my whole life, when it's one of your own players," Pishkur said. "He is so laid back and so genuine that my conversations with him, it was like he still was in high school. It just hasn't changed him."

Sean Manaea was selected as the 2010 Tony Klaja Award recipient. The Klaja Award is a scholarship awarded annually to the Chiefs player by the Klaja family that most exemplifies achievement through - Character, Desire, Dedication and Leadership.

On behalf of the Klaja family and the Chiefs we congratulate Sean, and wish him the best in his first starting role, and his continued success.